Oregon needs a New Vision

The old vision, the one this country was founded on, doesn’t work. The human race is having a lethal impact upon the world. Lakes are dying, seas are dying, forests are dying, the land itself is dying – for reasons directly traceable to our activities. As many as a hundred and forty species are vanishing every day—for reasons directly traceable to our activities.

The old vision, grow.

Oregon needs a new vision.

The old vision, the one this country was founded on, doesn’t work. The human race is having a lethal impact upon the world. Lakes are dying, seas are dying, forests are dying, the land itself is dying – for reasons directly traceable to our activities. As many as a hundred and forty species are vanishing every day—for reasons directly traceable to our activities.

The old vision, grow We felt it was our duty and right to cut the trees, damn the rivers, pave the prairie, pollute the land and air. Most of us aren’t ready to admit it but we know it’s right: Given our present numbers, living our present lifestyles we are hurting our surroundings.

The new vision, the one we need to learn and to teach our children is how to live sustainably. We should strive for this goal with all the zeal we mustered for the old vision.

The Pacific Party supports bold ideas.

We oppose corporate control of our lives. We are more than just workers and consumers in the corporate greed game. We oppose global trade treaties like NAFTA, GATT and the MAI. We support corporate charter reform to make corporations responsible for the public good as well as their private gain.

We support health care for everyone. Every Oregonian should have access to health care. Every other country does it, so should we. We support Single-Payer health care system with no insurance companies.

We support democratic reform. The current system is meaningless to many and rightly so. With corporate control of the political process and meaningless campaigns between two similar candidates, it is no wonder so few vote. We support proportional representation to improve representation. We support campaign finance reform: one person, one vote, not onedollar, one vote. We support free media on the airwaves we own.

We support peace and nonviolence. Peace is a state of mind. We should be teaching our children to follow the role models of Jesus orGhandi. The level of violence effects our children. We have more murders, more guns, more suicides, It is unacceptable and we allshare some of the blame. We would shift resources We support peace education.

We support clean drinking water and fish. Stop logging the Ancient Forests. Stop clearcutting. Vote Yes on 64. Our forests are worthmore intact and selectively logged. We support protecting our resources.

We support our schools.

We support families. Cut the work week.

We support drug law reform. Save money.

We support a maximum work week of 30 hours with full time pay and benefits.

Our candidates offer bold alternatives. They know the old vision doesn’t work. We need their leadership to stop the destruction while we get a new vision.

But ultimately these laws won’t matter unless we change. As long as we think we can pollute without mercy, we keep polluting. We have the idea the polluting is okay, we need the idea that polluting is not okay.

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article authored by Brian Setzler, MBA, CPA, and registered member of the Pacific Green Party since 2010.